


A Shared Tragedy

by Lady_Sci_Fi



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 04:48:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18439361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Sci_Fi/pseuds/Lady_Sci_Fi
Summary: The death of Andrea Yates was a terrible day in the lives of her best friend Sarah Jane and her brother Mike.A "What if Captain Mike Yates was Andrea Yates' brother?" story.





	A Shared Tragedy

 1964

 “ _Remember me_.”

 Those words, and the following scream echoed in Sarah’s head as she numbly sat slumped back against the railing of the pier. Everything around her went by in a haze- the passage of time, cries of alarm from somewhere down further along the beach, someone finding her, voices asking if she was okay, asking if she knew anything about the girl that had just been found in the water.

 “Andrea…” was all the thirteen-year-old girl could manage to whisper.

 “Sarah Jane?”

 Sarah couldn’t even look up at the familiar voice of her teacher. That’s right… they’d been on a school trip. How could this have happened on a silly school trip?

 “ _Remember me_.” Andrea’s voice had been so eerily calm before she fell. And then she had screamed, and Sarah couldn’t do anything but watch as she had been dragged under by the water. Sarah had reached out, cried her friend’s name, told her to not let go… and it had done nothing to save her.

 Sarah finally looked up at the feel of a blanket being put around her shoulders to see her teacher and a small crowd of strangers around her and a man in an emergency medical uniform. “Andrea?” she asked them in a whisper. Why couldn’t she say anything else?

 “It’ll be alright… Sarah Jane, is it?” he asked.

 Sarah barely nodded in response to the question. But he hadn’t answered hers. Why wouldn’t he, or anyone else around them, answer her question? She opened her mouth to try to ask it again, but no words came out, only a sudden loud sob.

 That opened the floodgates, and silent tears began to stream down her face.

 Sarah barely reacted when the medic gently pulled her to her feet and led her to the ambulance.

 ********

 Sarah still couldn’t speak two hours later at the hospital, where they were treating her for shock. Not even with her aunt Lavinia quietly sitting by her bedside and lightly stroking her arm in comfort. Sarah had barely moved since being left alone by the nurse and doctor, and the therapist who had talked to Lavinia privately, staying almost absolutely still and staring ahead at nothing, sitting hunched over with her knees tucked up under her chin.

 She wanted someone to tell her about Andrea, but at the same time, she knew she didn’t need someone to do that. She knew. She just… she just knew.

 All she could think about was Andrea’s fear and scream as she fell, hitting the water and disappearing underneath the waves…

 Sarah flinched when the nurse walked in, and did her best to focus on her, on anything other than the images and sounds burned into her mind.

 “We’ve done all we can do for her here,” the nurse said to Lavinia. “Take her home, let her get some rest, stay with her.”

 “Don’t worry, I’ll do that,” Lavinia assured. She took Sarah’s hand tenderly. “Come on, dear.”

 Sarah looked at Lavinia, expression uncertain and asking a silent question.

 Lavinia moved in for a hug, which Sarah didn’t physically respond to, and whispered, “I’m sorry, Sarah.” When she pulled away a moment later, she said, “But, we do need to go home now, alright?”

 Sarah gave a tiny nod, and finally unfolded her legs to swing them over the side of the bed.

 They slowly walked out to the reception area so Lavinia could check her out of the hospital. Sarah happened to glance around the seating area, and was startled by the sight of a certain seventeen-year-old boy sitting in one of them, one she considered a friend, blankly staring ahead and very obviously barely managing to hold himself together. Sarah wasn’t sure what to do, if she should go to him and say-try to say something. Or if it would be better to leave him be. What if he… what if he hated her? If he blamed her for what had happened?

 Then Mike Yates blinked, and caught Sarah’s gaze across the room. He looked as though he couldn’t quite comprehend the situation for several seconds, before he got up.

 “Sarah?” he asked when he had gotten close enough.

 Sarah raised her hand halfway to reach out to him, but at the same time shrank back, as Lavinia turned at the call of her niece’s name. Mike was now close enough for Sarah to clearly see the welling tears in his eyes. 

 “Oh… hello, Mike,” Lavinia greeted, her tone sad.

 Mike nodded to her in acknowledgement before asking Sarah, “Are you… you alright?” His voice shook, and he swallowed heavily in an attempt to control it.

 Sarah wasn’t sure how to respond, and Mike shuddered. He looked to Lavinia and said, “Andrea, she’s… they said she’s…” He cleared his throat, now losing the battle to keep it all in. “My parents are… talking to a doctor, I think. I mean… I don’t know what… I-I only got here a few minutes ago…”

 Lavinia nodded, and laid a hand on his forearm. “Sarah was there,” she stated.

 Mike’s gaze immediately lowered to Sarah’s. “You- you were?” His hand tentatively wrapped around her still-extended one. “Y-you were there?” His tears fell freely now.

 Sarah’s bottom lip quivered as she gave a tiny nod. She stiffened for a second as Mike gave into his emotions and suddenly moved in to hug her tightly. Then she almost melted into his embrace. He laid his head on top of hers, and she could feel his tears soaking into her hair. Her own tears were staining his shirt. Her arms wrapped around his middle, and she held on tight.

 Lavinia guided the grieving pair towards the chairs and down to sit on a couch. And somehow, they clung to each other even harder.

 “I’ll be right back,” Lavinia said before returning to the reception desk to finish filling out Sarah’s forms.

 “Andrea…” Mike whispered. “But you… At least you’re alright, Sarah.”

 Sarah’s grip on the back of Mike’s shirt tightened. His hand came up to the back of her head and she turned to bury her face in his neck. Still, she couldn’t say anything, despite wanting to. What was there for her to say, anyway?

 Mike had also now become speechless, and simply held onto Sarah like their lives depended on it. His tears continued to drip down onto the top of her head. Hers now dampened the collar of his shirt.

 Lavinia returned, sat down, and put her arm around Sarah. She placed her other hand on Mike’s shoulder and rubbed it soothingly.

 Eventually, the girl and boy only looked up at the sound of Mike’s and Andrea’s parents saying Mike’s name. Mike only let go of Sarah with one arm to accept a half-hug from his mother. Lavinia stood to quietly talk to the grieving parents.

 Mike and Sarah half-tuned them out. But, eventually, they had to let go as they had to leave.

 Sarah leaned heavily against her aunt as they walked out to her car.

 ********

 Early evening the next day, Mike hesitated before raising his hand to knock on the door. Lavinia opened it a moment later, with a slight surprised expression.

 “Hi… I um…” Mike took a deep breath. “I just… had to get out of the house. And I thought… I thought maybe I could check on Sarah?”

 “Of course,” Lavinia stepped aside to let him in. “She’s in her room.” She closed the door and sadly smiled to the teen. “She hasn’t said anything since… yesterday. An expected reaction, unfortunately.”

 Mike nodded. “Dad’s not talking, either. Mum’s… I don’t think she’s stopped crying since we got home.”

 “We all grieve in our own ways,” Lavinia said. “I happened to get a… reason when my brother and his wife died to not wallow in it. I suddenly had their daughter to take care of.” She took a breath. “If your family needs anything, let me know.”

 Mike nodded, and swallowed heavily. His hand at his side clenched briefly.

 “Anyway,” Lavinia gestured with her chin to the stairs. “She might not talk, but I think she’ll still appreciate the company. You’re a good lad.”

 “Thank you.” Mike blew out a breath and headed up the stairs.

 Sarah laid curled up on her bed, the only light coming from outside through her half-open curtain. She flinched at the soft knock on the door, but relaxed when Mike’s voice called through, “It’s Mike. Do you mind if I come in?”

 Sarah sat up, but didn’t say anything. Mike slowly opened the door and poked his head in. Sarah nodded to him, and he fully came inside and closed the door halfway. She greeted him with a watery smile.

 “How are you doing?” Mike asked.

 Sarah drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them. She shrugged, and opened her mouth a few times. Finally, she said, “Can’t stop thinking about it.” After a day of not being able to say anything at all, her voice sounded almost foreign to her.

 Mike kicked off his shoes and tentatively sat next to her. “That’s alright. I can’t…” He cleared his throat. “I can’t imagine…”

 “Do you hate me?” Sarah asked suddenly.

 “Hate you? Why would I hate you, Sarah?”

 Sarah shrugged. “Don’t know. Because… I lived and Andrea…”

 Mike’s hand clenched again as he tried to keep in his coming tears. “I don’t hate you, for that or for anything.”

 Sarah sniffled. “I tried to save her, I did.”

 “I’m sure it’s not your fault what happened.” Mike wanted to know exactly what had happened. He had gotten the gist of it from what his parents had told him last night, but they hadn’t given any details. Still, in his own grief, he knew not to push Sarah. It had clearly traumatized her. She had been there, seen it happen, tried to stop it.

 “I’m sorry,” Sarah whimpered.

 Mike put his arm around the girl’s shoulders and drew her into his side.

 Sarah let go of her legs to wipe at one of her eyes. “It was stupid. We were, I mean. That pier had been closed off, but we still… we still went out on it. Everything was fine until… until Andrea went to the edge, and the barrier gave way.” She swallowed, and a loud sob escaped. “She held on, but I couldn’t reach her. I tried really hard, I did. But she fell…” Her body shuddered. Then she remembered something else, a detail that had been lost in all the immediate grief. She looked up to Mike’s face with confusion. “Mike, I… I think we were warned.”

 “Warned? What do you mean?”

 Sarah stared ahead again. “There was this girl, right before we went out on the pier, dressed strangely. It was weird, she… she seemed to know us? And she was rambling about an accident and trying to convince us to go home. I think that’s what it was. She was very distraught and scared. Then… then she disappeared when Andrea and I turned away.” She looked up at him. “I’m not mad, I promise. Andrea saw her, too.”

 “I didn’t think you were mad,” Mike assured. Still, some strange girl talking about knowing them and an accident right before? He wondered if anyone else had seen her before she had apparently disappeared.

 Sarah closed her eyes and rested her head against the boy’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

 Mike lowered his mouth to her hair, and his voice cracked as he stated, “It’s not your fault. I know you would’ve done everything you could’ve.”

 “Wasn’t enough.” Sarah sounded so broken in those two words.

 “No…” Mike agreed. “But that doesn’t make it your fault.” He couldn’t hold the tears back anymore, and at his sob, fresh tears and sobs also began from Sarah.

 A while later, when Lavinia came up to call them to dinner, she found them curled together asleep on Sarah’s bed, holding onto each other, tear-tracks still evident on their faces. She found a blanket and laid it over them, and let them sleep, knowing Sarah hadn’t gotten much the night before, and assuming the same for Mike.

 She hoped they could heal from this tragedy together.

 ********

 Sarah kept up her near-mute state with anyone who wasn’t Mike. She didn’t know why, but it couldn’t be all bad if she was talking to someone. And with Mike, she got the sense he needed her as much as she needed him.

 The funeral was held about a week after Andrea died. Mike and Sarah held hands the entire time. And when both had thought they had no more tears left to cry, and yet new ones still came, they clung to each other.

 “Remember me,” Sarah said into Mike’s chest as he held her when it was over.

 ********

 Sarah started talking again a couple days later, much to Lavinia’s relief. She was working through it, the initial trauma, the resulting emotions, everything. Though it would still take a long time to fully heal.

 Over a couple months after the funeral, Sarah was sitting on a park bench with Mike, both eating a bowl of ice cream from the nearby shop.

 She licked her spoon, and inhaled through her nose. It had been a good day out with him, but she needed to tell her friend the news. “Aunt Lavinia reckons we should move.”

 “What for?”

 “She thinks… she thinks it would help me. A fresh start away from…” She waved her hand vaguely. 

 Mike sighed. “I suppose that makes sense.” He ate another spoonful of ice cream. “What do you think about it?”

 “I don’t know. She might be right. But I don’t… First of all, I wouldn’t want to leave you behind.”

 Mike couldn’t help the warm smile. “I appreciate that, but you don’t need to worry about me. Besides, I’ll be heading off to university soon enough.”

 “Oh, that’s right. Not that we would leave right away if we do decide to, but…” Sarah smiled back, “Well, we can still be friends, right?”

 “Of course, Sarah.” Mike put his arm around the girl and drew her in close.

 Sarah closed her eyes as she felt his smile widen against the top of her head. “Good.”

 

 1974

 Dinosaurs invading London. Wasn’t that absolutely ridiculous. But Sarah had just returned from another absolutely ridiculous situation of stopping an alien in the Middle Ages, so her perspective was now skewed. She wondered if it would ever be normal again.

 “Well, that's where you come in, Doctor,” the Brigadier said in answer to the Doctor’s question. “So far we've absolutely no idea where they're coming from or come to that, where they go.”

 “Where they go?” Sarah repeated.

 “Yes, that's one of the few good things about the entire situation. According to my patrols, they seem to vanish. Just disappear. No one sees them come, no one sees them go.”

 “But things that size, where could they go?”

 The Doctor responded, “Well, that's pretty obvious, isn't it, Sarah? Back where they came from, into the past.”

 Sarah opened to mouth to reply, but stopped and closed it in shock as two men entered the room. The mustached severe-faced one barely caught her attention. No, it was the other…. And it couldn’t really be him, could it? She got her answer at his shocked expression when he recognized her a couple seconds later. His identity was confirmed even more when the Doctor got up and shook his hand. “Mike, my dear fellow, how are you? Good to see you again.”

 It had been so long since she had seen him, or even heard from him. She had been bad at keeping in touch, and so had he.

 Mike masked his surprise at seeing Sarah here of all places with UNIT, and responded with a smile, “Doctor.” Still, he couldn’t stop glancing over to the young woman at the table during the following conversation. He could see that she was also trying and failing to not look at him. They both knew this wasn’t the time.

 “Who’s this?” General Finch asked when Sarah made her presence known to him.

 “Sarah Jane Smith. How do you do?”

 Mike quickly moved his gaze from her to Finch when the other man turned to him. “Civilians are not allowed in this zone. Have her evacuated immediately.”

 Sarah was relieved when the Doctor quickly claimed her as his assistant to have her stay, and even more so when everyone had something else to do, and left her alone with Mike, who had been unofficially ordered by Finch to keep an eye on the civilian.

 When the door closed behind Benton, Mike smiled at Sarah, and she rushed to him, just stopping short of hugging him. Instead, she gripped his forearms and beamed at him.

 “What are you doing here?” he asked.

 “I got mixed up in UNIT…” Had that been a couple days ago? Near enough, Sarah supposed. “A couple days ago. Me and the Doctor had a little unexpected adventure in the Middle Ages, and we come back here this morning to an empty London being menaced by dinosaurs.”

 Mike chuckled. “Yeah, that… that happens around him.”

 “What about you? You decided to become a soldier, then?”

 “Made sense, in a way,” Mike nodded.

 Sarah took a step back to look him up and down. “You look good in uniform.” She meant it, and remembered fancying him before. She felt some of that returning.

 “Thanks. You look…” Mike took a moment to take in her appearance. “You look good, too.” He cleared his throat. “So, what are you now?”

 “Journalist.”

Mike smirked. “That explains how you got mixed up with the Doctor, then? Sticking your nose into things?”

 “Exactly. Didn’t get the story I wanted, but oh well.”

 Mike couldn’t contain his happiness at seeing her again, and swooped in for a hug. Sarah heartily returned it.

 A moment later, they settled in for a long-overdue catching up, pausing only when various people passed through.

 “… Well, after all that business in Wales with the giant maggots, I had to have a spot of leave. Suppose it was a reaction, really.”

 “Oh, I’m not surprised.” A couple days ago, Sarah wouldn’t have believed a word of what Mike had been telling her about his adventures with UNIT. Still, that business in Wales, being brainwashed by a computer to kill his friends? That in particular sounded terrible.

 “As soon as I get back, of course, all this business blows up.” Mike sighed, and looked down to the table.

 Sarah went over to look out the window. “It's weird seeing London like this. All those deserted streets.”

 “I rather like it.” Mike paused as Benton went past. “Have you noticed the air? It's clean. No cars, no people. Do you know yesterday I saw a fox in Piccadilly?”

 Sarah noticed the strange tone in his voice. She joked, “And nightingales in Berkeley Square?”

 “It’s not impossible…”

 He sounded so faraway, and Sarah wondered if her friend was alright. She returned to his side. “No, no, I like London the way it was, traffic jams and all.”

 Mike snapped out of his reverie, though his voice was still slightly airy. “Yes, I expect you’re right.”

 Something wasn’t quite right about her friend. Sarah was about to ask him if anything was bothering him when they were interrupted by the officer manning the radio unit.

 ********

 At the end of it all, Sarah had been distressed to find out Mike had betrayed UNIT. Her instincts had been right about something about him being off. At the time, she had rationalized it as there simply having been ten years since she had seen him. But now… something had definitely happened to him, maybe connected to what had happened to him in Wales. From the sound of it, the Doctor and the Brigadier seemed to think so. At the very least, it wasn't fully his fault.

 After she had gotten away from the Doctor trying to tempt her to some beach on another planet, she headed to find the Brigadier, hoping that was a good place to find out where Mike was being held or his address if he’d already been sent home. She needed to see him.

 She hadn’t thought about that day ten years ago when Andrea had died for a long time, but some of the memories came to her. She now feared for Mike, and she was not going to lose him, too.

 She found him before he could leave, and behind a closed door, held and comforted him the way he had her a decade ago.

 

 2008

 Mike adjusted his ponytail as he waited for Sarah to tell him whatever was bothering her. She drew her jacket around her at a gust of wind.

 They had walked another minute before Sarah could bring herself to say, “I saw her. Andrea.” Her voice cracked at the name.

 Mike stopped in his tracks. “What?”

 “Yesterday… a lot happened.” Sarah took Mike’s hands between hers. “The simple version is that we were in an alternate timeline. One where… where I died on the pier instead of her. I… I wasn’t really present for most of it, but before everything was put the way it’s supposed to be… I saw her for a minute, talked to her. It was… it was…” She couldn’t find the words to continue.

 “That’s… how?” Mike didn’t know what he meant by that question.

 “How was she?” Sarah guessed. “According to Maria, she was a successful artist, living life to the fullest.”

 Mike shuddered as he half-smiled. “Sounds like her, alright.”

 “She lived in my house. It was her birthday.”

 Mike gravely nodded as he remembered. “Yes, it would’ve been.”

 Sarah swallowed, and looked down between them. “She made a choice, back then, and we switched places. Then she made a choice to undo that and put everything right.”

 “A world with Andrea instead of you…” Mike couldn’t believe the idea. He wasn’t at all sure how he felt about that.

 “I know.” To stop the tears she could feel welling in her eyes, she said, “Oh, and that strangely-dressed girl I told you about? That was Maria. She was trying to get me back, and ended up there, on that day, at that time… And since she’d read about the accident, she knew what was about to happen and tried to stop us.” Sarah sighed,” If only we’d listened… Maybe things would be different.”

 It took Mike a long moment to respond. “Or not. You might’ve listened, but Andrea… I don’t think she would’ve. Whenever that girl wanted to do something, she would do it.” He chuckled at the surfacing memories. “Drove our parents a bit mad, really.”

 Sarah also lightly laughed at some of her own memories of Andrea. “I suppose you’re right.” Then she cleared her throat. “Yesterday brought heartache… and answers.”

 Mike pulled Sarah in for a tight embrace. “Sounds like it,” he said into her hair. When they pulled apart a minute later, he smiled softly. “She made the right choice, in the end. Thank you for telling me.” He took a couple of deep breaths to work through his emotions. “So… John and I will be opening the pub soon. What do you say to a drink and lunch?”

 Sarah grinned, and hooked her arm in his. “I’d love to.”

 They made a toast to Andrea. They remembered her. Her short life, and her choice for Sarah to live.


End file.
